Wednesday, Nov. 04, 2009

Myrtle Beach voters favor familiar faces for top offices

In a repeat of the 2005 election, the two Myrtle Beach mayoral frontrunners - Mayor John Rhodes and former mayor Mark McBride - will face each other in a showdown.

They'll continue to duke it out until a runoff is held in two weeks, because neither earned 50 percent of the votes plus one Tuesday. Rhodes, though, holds a large lead over McBride.

With 5,389 votes cast in the mayoral race, an outright winner needed 2,694. Rhodes earned 2,540, and McBride earned 1,472.

In 2005, Rhodes defeated McBride in a runoff, and in 1997, McBride defeated then-mayor Robert M. Grissom in a runoff.

The result is no surprise, because the area's political junkies have been sure of a runoff in this race, especially with five candidates for mayor. Also-rans Bill Howard received 944 votes, Matthew McCarty earned 222, and Bea Catalano garnered 167. There were 44 write-in votes.

There also will be a runoff for two of the three open council seats.

Incumbent Wayne Gray retains his seat with 2,623 votes and said he was "elated" with the results.

With 15,133 votes cast, to win outright, council candidates needed 2,524 votes. The runoff for the last two seats will be between incumbents Chuck Martino and Randal Wallace, and challenger Mike Lowder. Wallace earned 2,166 votes, Martino 1,867 and Lowder 1,885.

The results do not include curbside, failsafe and challenge ballots cast, but do include absentee votes. The results also are not official until certified Thursday.

This is Lowder's third run for council and will be Martino's third runoff.

Rhodes said he is "thankful for all the support I've received," and Martino said he'll start right away preparing for the runoff.

"This isn't my first rodeo," he said with a laugh.

McBride said he's happy to be in second place, because more often than not, the second-place finisher wins the runoff. Rhodes beat him from second place, and McBride beat Grissom from the same position.

The crowded council race meant there were plenty of other vote-getters Tuesday night.

Keith Compton, a first-time candidate, earned 1,818 votes; Don Emery received 1,335; Karon Mitchell received 1,418; and Adam Parness earned 1,226. Other candidates included Pete Lusardi, who received 104 votes; Terry Mitchem, who received 220; C.D. Rosza, who got 64 votes; and longtime civic activist Joanne Vogelsong, who received 387.

Many of the candidates gathered at Council Chambers to watch the returns. As soon as the numbers were posted, Compton was off to shake hands with Rhodes.

"I'm going to congratulate the winners and rock on," he said with a smile.

Mitchell said she felt she had a good run and a lot of support and, as a downtown business owner and member of the Downtown Redevelopment Corp. board of directors, will still be part of city workings.

"I'm not gone or dead," she said. "I'll continue to work for my city."

All the votes were tabulated by 8:05 p.m. Tuesday, with few, if any, problems in the precincts.

It has been a hard-fought race in which personal attacks became common, extending out to noncandidates and their families.

The election hinged on two major decisions the current City Council made in the past year and a half: to take steps to quell the May motorcycle rallies that have sparked residents' complaints for years,

and the implementation of a 1 percent sales tax to raise money to promote the city to potential visitors outside the area. Both decisions angered many people, but how many of them actually live inside the city, or even in the state, was hard to tell.

Some of the candidates jumped into the race solely because of the city's efforts to ward off the motorcycle rallies, and some jumped in but didn't do any campaigning at all, not raising or spending any money, and not even appearing at candidates' forums.